“Playing Rule Proposal No. 8A – it involves the intention in 2013 to have mandatory thigh and knee pads,” said Rich McKay, the head of the NFL’s Competition Committee. “This has been a topic that we have discussed for a number of years with the union and internally. There are probably some of us who are remiss that we ever took it from the rulebook when we took it out of the rulebook and made it more recommended as opposed to mandatory.

“Obviously, high school makes it mandatory; college makes it mandatory. In our mind, that is what should occur here. It will in the 2013 season. We have some input to get from the union before that, and we have some design work from some of the manufacturers on pads and improvements from the last time they were mandatory both in the thigh and knee areas.”